Cara froze, her heart suddenly hammering at about a million miles per hour. "You...wait, what?"

This time, he took her hand, and it was sweaty-or maybe that was hers. Didn't matter, because she was now just as nervous as he was.

"Marry me, Cara. I mean it. This may not be the best situation, with me being still under contract, but we'll figure something out." He squeezed her fingers. "I can't lose you again."

Tears welled in Cara's eyes, and she opened her mouth to answer-to say yes-when a whirl of blue smoke appeared.

"I think you should," came another voice, one that Cara had gotten very familiar with the last couple of weeks.

She turned. "Malik."

Duncan leaped to his feet. "What are you doing here?" His wings popped out and bobbed in the air. He gripped his wand so tight his knuckles were white.

"Just watching," Malik said. "Please do not let me interrupt." The djinn's blue skin was almost subdued under the black clothes he wore, though the vest with red and gold embroidery reminded Cara of the ornate furniture in his cave house.

And his bare blue feet. Can't forget his bare feet.

"You don't need to be here, Malik," Cara said. "This is not your business."

The blue djinn crossed his arms. "Oh, but it is. You see, everything you do until your debt is paid is my business."

"Cara, you didn't," Duncan whispered.

Cara met Duncan's gaze, and from the look on his face, she was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"Tell him, little screamer." Malik stepped closer to her chair, and she could feel the desert heat on him-that dry, gritty smell seemed to permeate his pores even here on Avalon.

A smell she hoped she'd never smell again.

Cara shivered. She met Duncan's gaze, but when she saw the disappointment in his eyes, she just stared at the floor.

She clenched her hands in her dress, balling the fabric, hoping the gesture would calm her nerves.

But this part-this was her own making, her own mess. She'd let Malik's words twist in her gut, ball up and create this, well, excuse, to run away.

And run she did. Because she'd been scared of her own damn feelings.

And now she'd have to live with that mistake.

"Yes, I made a deal with Malik," Cara said, after she brought her head up. What else could she do? She had to own it now. "I needed help. He offered to help me."

Duncan inhaled a breath, and the entire room was silent for several minutes. No one breathed. Cara was afraid to, Duncan didn't seem to, and Malik...well, if he had anything to say, he was staying quiet.

Cara glared at the djinn. "You have horrible timing."

He raised an eyebrow. "It would be in your best interest to say yes to this fairy's proposal."

"Only if I don't rescind the proposal," Duncan said.

Cara snapped her gaze to him, the words stabbing her in the heart. "You...you would do that?"

"In a heartbeat," Duncan said. He stood. "If you cannot be honest enough to me to tell me about making a deal with a djinn, then how can I trust you?" He stood and started walking out of the house.

Cara stared at him in shock. "I was trying to save my own life. What else was I supposed to do?"

"There's always another option," Duncan said.

"Seriously, you're walking out on me?" Cara asked through their telepathy.

Duncan glanced at her over his shoulder, for just a second, his face stone cold. Then, he walked out the door.

And didn't even bother slamming it shut.

Cara shook her head. That answered that.

"That was unexpected," Malik said. "Pity. But that still keeps you within my reach."

Cara spun around and threw a punch at him.

Not that Malik let her land it. He merely disappeared and reappeared across the room.

"You bastard! How could you do that! I was going to tell him. I was going to explain it to him before we said any vows."

Malik raised his eyebrow. "Are you sure about that, little screamer?" He crossed to her. "Because I'm pretty sure I recall you telling me, as we stood on the Eiffel Tower, that your debt to me was our private business. No one else's."

"You take my words out of context," she said. And she had said that in an effort to convince him to keep the debt on her alone and not bring her family into it.

Obviously, it had not worked.

"But they are your words," Malik said. "Why didn't you tell him immediately? He is your love, is he not? The man you pined for our entire trip?" He ran his hand over his jacket sleeve.

"Yes," she said.

"The one you were so certain had abandoned you in the desert. And now, he has abandoned you again." He shook his head. "Tsk, tsk. He doesn't seem to care that much about you after all."

The words jabbed at her. "Perhaps you're right. Maybe I was mistaken about his feelings."

She had considered, while she got their breakfast, after everything he'd been through at the hands of djinn, of not telling him right away about her debt.

Of course, she hadn't expected Duncan to actually propose to her today. That was enough of a shock. Then for him to propose and rescind it? Talk about raking her heart over the coals.

Of course, hadn't she done that to him, disappearing like she had?

Maybe this was what she deserved after all.

"Rescinding a proposal and then walking out on you doesn't seem very loving to me."

She gritted her teeth. "Did you need something, Malik? Perhaps a favor I can return to you?" But Malik's appearance steeled one thing in her mind-she couldn't marry Duncan, even if she did love him to pieces.

"Oh, nothing yet. Just checking on my investment."

"Well, you've checked. You can be going now."

"Perhaps I should. It seems the excitement of the day is over--"

He was cut off when Cara's front door opened. She leaped from her seat to see who it was, and about broke down in tears when she saw it wasn't Duncan.

It was her sister, Janelle.

She looked past her sister to see if she saw Duncan out there somewhere, but he was gone.

Cara spun on Malik ready to punch him again. Or maybe throw her coffee on him. Something. "I may kill you, you jerk."

"Whoa, what?" Janelle held up her hands.

Malik just raised an eyebrow, not paying much attention to the new arrival. "Many have tried, little screamer."

At least for a moment. Then his gaze shifted to Janelle. "And who might you be?" he asked, though more to himself than to anyone in the room.

"I'm Janelle. Who are you?"

Malik crossed to Janelle. "Malik. I see your sister has forgotten her manners." He held out his hand for Janelle to accept.

Janelle tentatively took his hand, and Malik raised it to his lips and pressed a kiss on the back.

"Leave her alone," Cara said, pushing Malik away, and noticing the pink stain on her sister's cheeks. She rolled her eyes and glared at the djinn. "If I wanted you to know her, I would have introduced you."

Malik's gaze cut to Cara. "Tsk tsk. You should not keep such a lovely creature from me."

"Yeah, um, I'm married," Janelle said. "And you're not my husband."

Malik looked her up and down again. "Yet there is no mark of a wedding band..."

"I took it off," Janelle said.

"And why would you do that?"

Janelle stood straight and glared at him. "It's none of your business, you big blue cloud of smoke. Look, I'm here to see my sister. If you need something, get on with it, and get going."

He appraised her, his gaze roaming over Janelle, but his face remained impassive. Then he glanced back at Cara. "I will be calling."

With that, the djinn disappeared in a puff of blue smoke.

Cara dropped into the nearest chair and buried her face in her hands. Maybe now it would be okay to cry. Because she'd flat screwed up her life.

Tears came out, and Cara just sat there for a moment, unsure what she should do.

"Okay, I know I've been away, but, uh, Hell Hounds, Cara, what was that?" Janelle came and sat next to her sister. "Is that the djinn that took you world hopping?"

Cara nodded. "He was really nice at first. Now I just want to strangle him."

Janelle rolled her eyes. "Good luck with that." She pulled out a piece of gum from her pocket and offered it to Cara, but she wasn't in the mood. Instead, her sister popped the gum in her mouth and leaned back. "So, uh, here." She handed Cara a tissue.

"Thanks." Cara patted her eyes. Though it didn't make the pain in her heart go away. "Just an hour ago, everything was perfect. Duncan proposed to me."

Janelle's eyes widened. "Really? That quick? Huh."

"What?"

Janelle shrugged. "Well, just do yourself a favor, and date a while. Don't jump head-long into marriage. You'll regret it."

Cara glanced at her sister. "But you did."

"And now, I regret it." She glanced at her hand. "The djinn is observant. I haven't worn my wedding ring in a month."

Cara sniffed, in a way relieved to hear about someone else's stuff rather than her own crazy drama. "You're not, uh, cheating on your husband, are you?"

Janelle shot her a rude look. "Really? You know me better than that. We are separated. And I'm thinking pretty seriously about moving back to Avalon. I can still use The Portal to deliver my screams. I just don't have to be there to do it."

Cara nodded, and Janelle continued to talk about what was going on with her, and as they spoke about everything from her not-so-perfect marriage to releasing screams, Cara realized how much she'd missed her sister.

She hadn't had that in a while. Ever since Janelle left eight years ago and got married to her-at least then-Prince Charming, their visits had been short. No time for girly discussions about all those sisterly things.

And then there was all the stuff between Cara and Duncan that they discussed, dissected, and generally over-analyzed.

They were in the middle of a funny story about Janelle's soon-to-be ex, when there was another knock at the door.

"Want me to get it?" Janelle asked.

Cara nodded. She wasn't ready to deal with any new visitors today. She pulled the little afghan off the back of her couch and wrapped it around her.

Janelle went to the door, and after she opened it, she stepped to the side. "Cara, it's for you."

Duncan stood there. This time, he was dressed in a suit. Not his FID suit, either. This was Armani, if she wasn't mistaken.

He looked amazing.

And he was holding red roses, but his gaze darted around her cottage. She was pretty sure he was looking for Malik.

"Okay, I'm confused," Cara said as she crawled out from under her blanket.

Duncan raised his eyebrow. "I'm going for romantic here."

She stood slowly and took a couple of hesitant steps toward him. While he was always hot, right now he had that sophisticated, modern day, could-be-a-billionaire-could-be-a-movie-star refined thing going.

Which really sucked, because as gorgeous as he looked, she thought he was done with her. The way he left- It didn't make much sense.

"Yeah, I think I'll be going." Janelle's gaze darted between Cara and Duncan's, and then she pinned Cara with a glare. "You had so better call me..."